SITE C PROJECT Working Group Environmental Impact Statement Presentation February 19, 2013
AGENDA Agenda Topic Presenter Overview Susan Yurkovich Need, Alternatives & Project Benefits Mike Savidant EA Methodology & Environmental Bettina Sander Background Environmental Valued Components Paul Higgins Aboriginal Groups Trevor Proverbs Socio-Economic Valued Components Siobhan Jackson Wrap Up Danielle Melchior 2
Overview & Objectives Provide an overview of the EIS • Answer questions and provide clarification on the EIS • Provide a roadmap to enable review comments • Address how the EIS meets the EIS Guidelines 3
Roadmap 4
Meeting the Requirements of the EIS Guidelines 5
Project Location 6
Project Map SITE C CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT DAM • Type: Earthfill Dam • Length: 1,050 metres • Height: 60 metres • Capacity: 1,100 MW • Energy: 5,100 GWh/yr. RESERVOIR 7 • Length: 83 km • Width: 2-3 times current river
Site C Dam Site Component 8
Off-Site Components and Activities 9
Need, Alternatives & Project Benefits Michael Savidant 10
Need for the Project • Project is required to meet growing customer demand • Large hydro projects have a long lead-time, and as a result Need is evaluated in the long-term time frame (5 – 20 years) • Need is established by evaluation of: – Current and Forecasted customer demand (residential, commercial, and industrial customers) – Existing and committed supply-side resources (BC Hydro heritage facilities, upgrades, and IPP contracts) – Conservation and efficiency activities (The Demand-Side Management (DSM) Target) • Customer demand is expected to increase by 40 per cent over 20 years, excluding potential load from new LNG facilities • BC Hydro’s existing and committed resources, DSM activities, and Revelstoke 6 are not expected to be sufficient to meet this demand 11
Alternatives to the Project • BC Hydro reviewed a broad range of potential alternatives • Some resources were screened out because they were not viable – i.e. barred by legislation or policy, or not technically or economically feasible • The remaining Available Resources were used in portfolio analysis and consisted of: – Clean or renewable IPPs (i.e. wind, run-of-river hydro, biomass, pumped storage and geothermal) – BC Hydro Resource Smart potential (i.e. upgrades to existing BCH facilities) – Natural gas–fired generation within the 93% clean or renewable target in the Clean Energy Act • To evaluate alternatives, BC Hydro developed portfolios of Available Resources that would provide comparable energy and capacity. – Site C portfolios – Clean Generation portfolios – Clean + Thermal Generation portfolios 12
Conclusion on Preferred Alternative • The financial, technical, environmental, and economic development attributes of the portfolios were compared – Financial : life-cycle cost of the portfolios to ratepayers – Technical : characteristics of the energy and capacity delivered (i.e. reliability and flexibility) – Environmental : Land footprint, affected stream length, GHG emissions, local air emissions – Economic Development : GDP, jobs • Based on this analysis, BC Hydro concluded that the Project provides the best combination of financial, technical, environmental, and economic development attributes and is, therefore, the preferred option to meet the need for energy and capacity in the planning horizon • Hydroelectric projects are complex, require a long lead time to plan, design, undertake environmental assessment and construct 13
Project Benefits • Economic Development Benefits: – The Project creates benefits at the local, provincial, and federal level due to the purchase of goods and services – Economic development during the construction period is expected to add $130 million to regional GDP and $3.2 billion to the provincial GDP • Employment Benefits: – The Project would create approximately 10,000 direct construction jobs and 33,000 total jobs through all stages of development and construction – During operations, the Project is expected to provide 25 direct jobs per year, with 135 additional jobs per year in environmental monitoring and supplier industries • Economic Benefits to Aboriginal Groups and Local Communities: – BC Hydro is working to encourage Aboriginal and local participation through investments in training and education and promotion of job opportunities within the local community 14
Project Benefits • Benefits to BC Hydro Ratepayers: – The project has a lower cost than portfolios of alternatives, and would provide savings to ratepayers – The project would reduce uncertainty in customer rates, as operating costs would be stable and predictable – The proposed substation would improve system reliability for customers in the Project area due to a closer connection to the transmission system • Benefits to Taxpayers: – Construction of Site C would result in a total of $486 million for all three levels of government through taxation revenues generated by the project – During operations, the project would contribute $43 million per year to provincial and local governments through grants-in-lieu, school taxes, and water rental fees, plus a return on equity to the Province each year 15
Project Benefits • Environmental and Sustainability Benefits: – The Project optimizes the use of existing BC Hydro assets on the Peace River, delivering 35% of the energy of G.M. Shrum generating station with a reservoir area of 5% of the area of Williston – Project generation is flexible, and can vary within a short period of time. This would allow the Project to facilitate the integration of more intermittent resources such as wind and run-of-river hydro into the BC Hydro system – The Project would have among the lowest emissions of greenhouse gases per unit energy over the Project life compared to other alternative resources – The Project would increase the amount of fish habitat area with corresponding increases in aquatic productivity 16
Q & A 17
Environmental Assessment & Background Bettina Sander 18
Effects Assessment Methodology • Identify the issues, concerns and interests raised by Regulators, Agencies, Aboriginal groups, and the Public • Identify Valued Components (VCs): Environmental, Social, Economic, Heritage and Health • Determine where you study and how it varies over the life of the project (Spatial and Temporal Boundaries) • Describe Baseline Conditions and Potential Project-related Effects • Identify Mitigation Options (Avoid, Mitigate, Compensate) • Characterize Residual Effects and Determine Significance • Cumulative Effects Assessment 19
Design Changes to Avoid Potential Effects Project Valued component Effects avoided or Avoidance or mitigation component mitigated measure Wildlife Resources Loss of wildlife habitat Maximize relocation of surplus Dam, excavated material upstream of generating station and dam spillways Wildlife Resources Loss of wildlife habitat Minimize footprint on big island downstream of dam Wildlife Resources Loss of wildlife habitat Reduction of footprint and disruption of wetland habitat and clearing by relocating worker accommodation Fish and Fish Habitat Dissolved gas Spillway design modified to supersaturation minimize dissolved gas Reservoir Community Erosion of slopes at Extended shoreline protection Infrastructure and Hudson's Hope Services Community Potential erosion by Re-align Highway 29 at Dry Highway 29 realignments Infrastructure and reservoir Creek and Farrell Creek east Services Agriculture Loss of agricultural Selection of alignment at Lynx land Creek that includes a portion of Millar Road
Design Changes to Avoid Potential Effects Project Valued component Effects avoided or Avoidance or mitigation measure component mitigated Wildlife Resources Loss of bat hibernacula Elimination of Tea Creek from Quarried and consideration as a source of excavated temporary riprap construction materials Human Health Reducing heavy truck Selection of a conveyor for traffic on public roads – transporting till from 85th Avenue lower risk to human Industrial Lands to dam site area safety, less noise and dust Wildlife Resources Disturbance to caribou Restriction on blasting at West Pine quarry to no greater than historical levels during the periods January 16 to March 31 and May 15 to June 14 each year Transportation Traffic congestion in Source permanent riprap for dam, Hudson's Hope and on generating station and spillways from Highway 29 West Pine Quarry as opposed to Portage Mountain Quarry Minerals and Use of aggregate in Source aggregate for Highway 29 re- Aggregates project area alignment from areas that would be inundated
Environmental Background • The Project would introduce changes to the physical environment • Descriptive information and technical data collected, analysed and modelled • Predicted changes to land, air and water were taken into account in the effects assessment • Detailed information provided in Volume 2 Section 11 • E.g., Changes in sediment in surface water fish and fish habitat human health 22
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